Just as a good map is essential to hiking in the backcountry or driving around a major city, so can familiarity with the Bible Dictionary, the Topical Guide, and other study aids in the Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible make a study of that book a lot more fun. The following activity can be used either to teach the value of the various study aids or measure how well students or family members have already mastered their use.
Directions: See how quickly you can find answers to all of the following questions in the Latter-day Saint edition of the Bible and the accompanying study aids. Par is 30 minutes. Answers and explanations of how the answer might have been found are given at the end.]
1. Where does it say, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”?
2. What clarifications did Joseph Smith provide with regard to the real reason Jesus went into the wilderness following his baptism, and where do you find out?
3. What, literally, does the term “generation of vipers” mean?
4. Where can you find a compilation of Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus Christ?
5. List four chapters in the New Testament which tell of the baptism of Jesus.
6. Which of the four gospel writers records the most events in Jesus’ life from the beginning of His ministry until the Sermon on the Mount that are not recorded by any of the other three?
7. About how far would one go, and in what direction, to get from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee?
8. About how many gallons of wine did Jesus produce at the marriage in Cana?
9. Matthew 14 tells of Jesus walking on the water. Which two other chapters in the New Testament tell the same story?
10. Where does it say, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”?
11. If you didn’t already know, on what two pages could you find the more familiar name for the prophet Esaias, who is referred to in Luke 4:17?
12. According to Joseph Smith, what did Jesus really say to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, instead of “Touch me not”? Where can you find the answer?
13. What did the soldiers apparently offer Jesus on the cross, rather than vinegar?
14. In approximately what year was Paul converted?
15. How did Joseph Smith reword John 1:18, which as it stands contradicts the Old Testament?
16. Which two gospel writers tell of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus following his resurrection, and which has the longer account of the two?
17. We are told that Emmaus was about “three score furlongs” from Jerusalem. How far would that be in miles?
18. From what Latin word did the word “beatitude” come, and what did it mean?
19. What five verses from the Old Testament did Peter quote to his listeners on the Day of Pentecost to explain to them what was happening? Where can you find a reference to the same passage in modern scripture?
20. What evidence do we have that Paul’s seemingly negative view of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 was actually directed to full-time missionaries and not to Church members in general?
ANSWERS TO “WHAT GOOD ARE THE BIBLE STUDY HELPS?”
Note: The following answers all come from the Study Helps, available both electronically and in the printed Latter-day Saint publication of the Bible. Admittedly, in this day of artificial intelligence, many of the answers can be found even more quickly using Bing or ChatGPT, and there is no reason we should feel apologetic about using this wonderful new tool.
1. Where does it say, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”?
Look up “guile” in the Topical Guide. It will lead you to John 1:47.
2. What clarifications did Joseph Smith provide with regard to the real reason Jesus went into the wilderness following his baptism, and where do you find out?
Look up Harmony of the Gospels, where you will find four references to the baptism of Jesus and three references to the temptations that immediately followed. Turning to the first of these, we learn in the footnote to Matthew 4:1 that Joseph Smith changed “to be tempted of the devil” to read “to be with God.”
3. What, literally, does the term “generation of vipers” mean?
Look up “vipers” in the Topical Guide. You will find references to “generation of vipers” in Matthew 3:7 and Luke 3:7, where in the footnotes it suggests that the Greek literally meant “crop” or “offspring” of serpents.
4. Where can you find a compilation of Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus Christ?
In the Topical Guide, under the heading “Jesus Christ, Prophecies about.”
5. List four chapters in the New Testament which tell of the baptism of Jesus.
See the answer to question #2.
6. Which of the four gospel writers records the most events in Jesus’ life from the beginning of His ministry until the Sermon on the Mount that are not recorded by any of the other three?
Using the “Harmony of the Gospels” and looking down toward the bottom of III.C one finds that John records the most unique events not mentioned by any of the others.
7. About how far would one go, and in what direction, to get from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee?
Using Map #11 from the Bible Maps, one finds that one would go about 15 miles NE from Nazareth to get to the Sea of Galilee.
8. About how many gallons of wine did Jesus produce at the marriage in Cana?
Looking up “Cana of Galilee” in the Bible Dictionary, we are led to John 2, which tells of this miracle. We learn that Jesus produced six waterpots of 2-3 firkins a piece, for a total of about 15 firkins. Looking under “Weights and Measures” in the Bible Dictionary, we learn that a firkin was slightly more than a bath, which was 8 1/4 gallons. If we estimate a firken at 8.5 gallons, we then have between 135 and 140 gallons of wine!
9. Matthew 14 tells of Jesus walking on the water. Which two other chapters in the New Testament tell the same story?
One way to find this answer is to return to “Harmony of the Gospels” and scroll down until you find Matthew 14, where you will find that Mark 6 and John 6 tell the same story. Another way is to look up “walk” in the Topical Guide and discover the phrase “disciples saw him walking on the sea” in Matthew 14:26, with an indication that Mark 6:49 and John 6:19 relate the same event.
10. Where does it say, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”?
Look up “love” in the Topical Guide. Though there are a lot of entries, it doesn’t take long to find the reference to this quote in John 15:13.
11. If you didn’t already know, on what two pages could you find the more familiar name for the prophet Esaias, who is referred to in Luke 4:17?
Look up the passage in Luke 4:17-18, where footnote 18a leads you to the original quote in Isaiah. Or, turn to “Esaias” in the Bible Dictionary, where it tells you Esaias was the Greek form of Isaiah.
12. According to Joseph Smith, what did Jesus really say to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, instead of “Touch me not”? Where can you find the answer?
Look up “touch” in the Topical Guide, which will lead you to John 20:17, where the footnote indicates that Joseph Smith changed the word “touch” to “hold.”
13. What did the soldiers apparently offer Jesus on the cross, rather than vinegar?
Looking up “vinegar” in the Topical Guide, we are led to two references to this incident. The second, Luke 23:36, has a footnote indicating that the meaning of the Greek word translated as “vinegar” was actually “sour wine.”
14. In approximately what year was Paul converted?
Scan “Chronology of the New Testament” in Bible Chronology where you will find the estimate of 35 A.D.
15. How did Joseph Smith reword John 1:18, which as it stands contradicts the Old Testament?
See the footnote 18c at that passage, giving the quote from the JST.
16. Which two gospel writers tell of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus following his resurrection, and which has the longer account of the two?
Looking at Harmony of the Gospels and scrolling through “IV. The Last Week: Atonement and Resurrection,” you’ll find that both Mark and Luke tell the story, but that Luke has by far the longer account.
17. We are told that Emmaus was about “three score furlongs” from Jerusalem. How far would that be in miles?
Under “weights and measures” in the Bible Dictionary we learn that a furlong was 220 yards, so three score, or 60, of them would be 60 X 220 or 13200 yards. There are 1760 yards in a mile, so “three score furlongs” is 7.5 miles.
18. From what Latin word did the word “beatitude” come, and what did it mean?
Looking up “beatitudes” in the Bible Dictionary, it leads us to the first verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. The footnote to Matthew 5:3 tells us that the Latin “beatus” is the basis of the English word “beatitude,” meaning “to be fortunate,” “to be happy,” or “to be blessed.”
19. What five verses from the Old Testament did Peter quote to his listeners on the Day of Pentecost to explain to them what was happening? Where can you find a reference to the same passage in modern scripture?
Looking up “Pentecost” in the Bible Dictionary, we are led to “Feasts.” There we read about the Feast of Pentecost and learn of a notable one in Acts 2, which is the reference we are looking for. Turning to Acts 2, we find Peter quoting from Joel. Using the footnote 17 b to Acts 2:17, we find that he is quoting Joel 2:28. Turning to that passage and comparing Joel with the following verses from Acts 2, we find that Peter quotes a total of five verses: Joel 2:28-32. We also are led by the footnote to Acts 2:16 to JS-H 1:41, where we learn that Moroni quoted the same five verses to Joseph Smith.
20. What evidence do we have that Paul’s seemingly negative view of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7 was actually directed to full-time missionaries and not to Church members in general?
Scanning through 1 Corinthians 7, we find that there are multiple references to JST clarifications. Clicking on any one of them will lead you to the JST Appendix, with a total of ten changed verses in this chapter, which among other things clarify the group to whom Paul is writing.